[ad_1]
With more than 20,000 National Guard soldiers summoned, the Capitol and its park-sized area resembled an armed camp with armed soldiers spread out at a distance from others and heavy military equipment blocking the roads. In the city itself, traffic is paralyzed on many streets.
The order took effect after the incident last week when supporters of US President Donald Trump invaded the Capitol. Five people died during the siege. The United States Secret Service launched so-called National Security Special Events (NSSE) operations in connection with its inauguration in 2021 on Wednesday, previously scheduled to begin the day before January 20. the inauguration of Democrat Joe Biden.
“There is a serious security threat,” said Washington Contee, the Washington police chief. When asked if he had encountered such preventive measures in the past, he replied: “Not at that level, no.”
20,000 soldiers
According to R. Contee, “somewhere more than 20,000 soldiers of the National Guard” have been called up to take positions in the city. Security measures can also be introduced into the metropolitan system, city mayor Muriel Bowser said, without providing further information.
“We must warn the people of Washington about potential traffic disruptions, including the subway system,” Bowser said. “Our hotels are very concerned,” some of them may be closed for security reasons, he added.
Short-term home rental platform Airbnb Inc. promises to cancel all reservations in Washington next week during the opening and not enter into new leases, which are expected to minimize the possibility of further attacks in the capital.
Bowser urges people to refrain from traveling and watching the grand opening from home.
And where, in less busy times, there were crowds of visitors to the Capitol, soldiers slept on the floor and in hallways.
The soldiers did not settle on the Capitol, US Air Force Colonel Lt. Wayde Minamis of the Maryland National Guard explains in an email.
“This area of the Capitol is intended to be a rest area for National Guard members to rest between shifts,” Minamis explained.
Large troops were deployed in 1862.
“There have been other examples of soldiers assigned to defend the Capitol, but the Civil War was the only time we know they were stationed there,” said Operations Director Samuel Holliday of the American Society of Capitol Historians, a non-governmental organization. profit promoted by the Capitol and Congress. history.
On August 31 of that year, Washington Military District Headquarters issued a formal written request to use the Capitol as a hospital after the battle. The Union suffered huge losses, thousands of people died, and did everything possible to find places to care for the wounded.
The beds were built in the Rotunda, the old Palace Hall (now known as the National Sculpture Hall), and the corridors.
According to Benjamin Brown French, the commissioner of public buildings, between 1,100 and 1,200 sick and wounded soldiers were brought to the Capitol, and guards were posted at each door.
“In addition to the field hospital, the building housed units of healthy soldiers assigned not only to guard the Capitol but also to defend the Union,” historian S. Holliday wrote in an email.
[ad_2]
